PRZOOM - /newswire/ -
Cape Town, South Africa, 2009/02/17 - The African ICT industry has been quite sheltered from the global economic downturn. Despite the disruptions in markets around the world, African ICT industries have remained fairly robust and should witness continued growth.

"Firstly, Africa's status as an emerging market destination is expected to stand it in good stead as investors aim for growth markets in these turbulent times," says Frost & Sullivan ICT industry analyst Lindsey Mc Donald. "In addition, it is a low cost centre, and it therefore makes sense for international companies to consider relocating certain business processes and facilities to this market."

These relocations could include manufacturing, customer support and human resource matters. This is a key driver for governments within Africa and Latin America promoting their Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industries.

"Players from around the world have turned to Africa as a destination for investment," Mc Donald says. "Perhaps the best example of this is in the telecommunications sector, where international giants are scrapping for a piece of the very lucrative pie."

The result has been that lower priced, more advanced solutions have reached the continent, and technology vendors have benefited from the opportunities in an untapped market. In the continent's mobile sector, companies such as Zain, MTN, Orange, Tigo and Vodacom all enjoy healthy operating margins.

It would seem that the market for IT services in general is also still healthy if the success of South African players such as GijimaAST, Dimension Data and Business Connexion is any indication. However, it should be noted that key markets such as financial services, government, mining as well as oil and gas, are expected to remain the major contributors to ICT spend.

"The alternative business models presented by the internet are also expected to witness significant growth during this troubled time," Mc Donald says. "This is due to the internet's ease of use, the fact that it is less cost intensive and its ability to tap into new talent pools, such as cooperation between Indian and South African counterparts in the BPO sector."

Governments across Africa have also identified ICT as a priority area for investment and economic development. This is based on the view of ICT as an enabler for the development of other key industries. Concerted efforts on the part of governments have already resulted in significant strides in terms of job creation and investment.

Africa will however still feel some negative effects from the recession in developed markets. As it becomes more difficult to borrow money, companies will be forced to cut down on their spending.

"The importance of the ICT sector is however such that companies and governments have to find a way to sustain development expenditure as far as possible, as this is essential to economic growth," Mc Donald says. "The African ICT industry might see some slowdown in the levels of capital expenditure growth, but this is expected to have only a slight impact on the success of the sector."

Investors will still be guaranteed return on investment, although this could be over a longer period. Frost & Sullivan believes Africa's growth potential is the continent's main value proposition, and is something that not many other global markets can currently match.

If you are interested in more information on Frost & Sullivan's analysis of ICT markets in sub-Saharan Africa, then send an email to Patrick Cairns, Corporate Communications, at patrick.cairns[.]frost.com, with your query, full name, company name, title, telephone number, company email address, company website, city and country.

Frost & Sullivan (frost.com), the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 31 offices on six continents.

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